Good idea. I'm not too close to the big shows but there have been neighborhood fireworks every night for a couple weeks :/ So far he doesn't mind too much but I think the late night ones do disturb his sleep. I usually cover about 2/3 his cage at night with a blanket. I definitely don't want him to startle and fall!
Some of them have balance issues or arthritis so it was quite amazing seeing them just watch me and trust I would get them safely to their spot. Also a greenwing Macaw is quite a bit heavier than a cockatoo 
Ahh, macaws and 'toos!? I'm jealous, that sounds like so much fun! And Cotton is looking VERY handsome today.I had SO much fun volunteering yesterday! Lots of cockatoos and Amazons.
It was SO awesome having birds step up
I started the same day as another volunteer and it's nice to have someone else there that doesn't know what to do or how to read all of the birds yet. We were given introductions to every individual bird, and appropriate warnings as to which ones we won't be interacting with yet
It was a little sad to be away from Cotton all day but I think he liked it, ha.
Today he is finally starting to not run back in his cage whenever I come in the room after a few weeks of being scared of me.
View attachment 41704
Cotton says thank you!
My neighbors decided to do fireworks yesterday, right after the birds were tucked in bed! ARGH, I feel your pain!....grumpy face fireworks grrrrrr
Cotton seems ok so far
Oh no! Poor Cotton
Is he okay?
He seems ok - I can't even tell which feather or toe the blood came from. His plucking more could be unrelated to fireworks and just his plucking being what it is, too.Oh no! Poor Cotton
We've been lucky, neither Echo or Bongo is panicked by the fireworks so far but the big ones should be going tonight. Bongo isn't phased by them or gunshot or cannons (my birds go camping with me to historical reenactments), so she's totally chill -- which benefits Echo a lot. If she's not freaking out, he feels less need to.
) or most likely, both.
For the past few weeks I've been working daily on proximity "training" with Cotton - mostly using negative reinforcement to move away a step when he relaxes his stance after I move toward him.
The last couple of days I've done the same but added clicker. And yesterday/today added giving bits of walnut in his treat bowl after clicking (so, click, pause a half second, then move forward to drop walnut at which point he moves away, I look away and wait for him to come back then start again).
Just now he let me get about 15 inches from the cage door and I was able to drop the walnut directly into the bowl instead of having to move past his comfort zone. This is the closest I've gotten since going to the vet so that's exciting.
He has always been very clear where his threshold is and that he is going to move this forward SLOWLY. In the last week however he's started only taking one step away then checking to see if I'm paying attention instead of looking at me like I'm not getting it and going several feet away. So fingers crossed I'm getting better at reading his body language.
I think that he's super smart and he definitely notices all the little missteps I make. When I set up foraging puzzles he looks like he's barely paying attention but then goes straight to them to check them out. Any changes in his environment he explores right away. So he's way ahead of me on any training session I attempt lol
He's figured out which sounds will make the dog leave the room when she's barking
Awww poor baby boy, he's got the best caretaker a birdie could ask for to help him through it.He seems ok - I can't even tell which feather or toe the blood came from. His plucking more could be unrelated to fireworks and just his plucking being what it is, too.
He spent the evening out on his playstand and hung out watching me while I cleaned his cage. It's a huge step for him to be out that far again so I'm really happy he wasn't too stressed about it!
Before he started molting like crazy he was super adventurous and really liked when I changed things up - he'd head straight out to whatever I set up for him. I've seen him lose his balance and catch himself twice now so I don't know if he's just more wary of exploring while his feathers are growing, or if I changed his favorite setup (I did
He'll come back around.
I would LOVE to see what Echo was going to create!
Hehehe xD@Squeeing_Onion
Cotton watches everything I do, and he's ten steps ahead of me, and he's still young! He's a lot like my first dog that way, actually. It took a couple years to figure each other and then he was my best boy. Cotton is probably reading this, and just jotted down "best, eh.... we'll see who's best, the longer she waits the more she'll appreciate it when it happens. A good life lesson for this mere mortal."
Bowling pin Willow!
Chunky pear is the cutest description!
